


sleep, my love. i'll keep the nightmares away.

by strawberryss



Category: The Wayhaven Chronicles (Interactive Fiction)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Nightmares, Sort of? - Freeform, dreams about murphy :(
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-26
Updated: 2021-01-26
Packaged: 2021-03-18 20:41:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,134
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28998435
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/strawberryss/pseuds/strawberryss
Summary: prompt response! kira has a nightmare and also a very sweet vampire to help her thru it <3 ft. vampire lit ;)
Relationships: Female Detective/Nathaniel "Nate" Sewell
Kudos: 9





	sleep, my love. i'll keep the nightmares away.

**Author's Note:**

> the book Nate reads from is called Clarimonde, or La Morte Amoureuse, and is about a priest who falls in love with a vampire

It is long past nightfall when Kira realizes she’s lost in the woods. It shouldn’t even be possible; she half grew up here, climbing trees and falling into the creek and knighting the boulders with sticks while playing pretend. She knows this terrain like the back of her hand, could walk the path from the house to the far reaches and back with her eyes closed. All of which to say, this cannot be happening. 

And yet it is. She’s never seen this place before; the unfamiliarity of it frightens her almost more than the surroundings themselves, which is saying something. The grass in the clearing is long dead, tramped down and colorless, crackling underneath her feet. Around her, the aspens tremble nervously, leaves a sickly, poisonous shade of yellow that screams warning. Dark, gaping eyes stare emptily at her from their vantage points on the trunks. As a child, Kira hated these trees, would cry when one of her nannies took her to the park, where they stood like watchful sentinels, until she had read that the black carvings marring the bark were only the remnants of branches that had fallen. But honestly? Screw that, they’re still creepy as hell. 

Annoyance is quickly overtaking fear in Kira’s mind when a violent clap of thunder shakes the forest around her, followed quickly by a light drizzle of rain. But something’s wrong; the droplets trickling down her neck and obscuring her vision are not cold and delicate like water, but uncomfortably warm, and she swipes the viscous liquid from her forehead to find dark smears of blood coating her hands. 

Terror overtakes her as she stumbles back from the gore; blood pouring from the crimson sky above stains her lips, making her gag as the sharp smell and metallic taste overwhelm her and force her to her knees. 

And just when she can take no more, an all too familiar voice dances into the clearing, cold and amused. “Oh, detective…”

No, Kira thinks desperately, not now, please not now, but now he must be just behind her, because right next to her ear, that frigid whisper hisses, “Have you missed me?” 

She turns around, but he’s gone before her eyes can refocus, and before she can think, a bony hand snarls into her hair and yanks her head to the side, sharp fingernails tracing her jugular. “I’ve missed you,” Murphy croons, finally emerging out of the bloody darkness with his fangs bared in a cruel smile. 

Escape. Run. Hit. Now. Go. Disjointed, panicked thoughts flurry into her mind one after the other, knocking into each other and rearranging like puzzle pieces until the outlines of a plan start to emerge, and she swings her hand out to punch him as everything goes black.

A hand catches her fist, loose grip encircling her wrist as she struggles blindly to free herself. She can’t move, she can’t breathe- “Kira!” another voice says, hushed but concerned. Gradually, she stops resisting, eyes blinking open to see the aspens- no, not trees, the crumbling ceiling of Murphy’s lab, no, it’s the Warehouse, her bedroom with its high ceilings and blankets she’s managed to twist herself up in and books Nate has lent her and Nate himself, hovering over her, dark eyes worried and still soft with sleep. Her mind begins to slow down, processing her surroundings more clearly as she sits up. 

“Nate?” she asks, and relief clears the distressed furrow of his brow. He releases her wrist, hand moving to smooth the hair out of her face. “Did I wake you up? Sorry,” she mumbles, leaning into the cool touch of his fingers on her forehead. 

He shakes his head, a gentle smile gracing his face. “Don’t concern yourself with that, dearest. Are you alright?”

“It’s nothing,” Kira says automatically, shoulders tensing at the vivid flashes of memory. Nate fixes her with a kind but skeptical look, and Kira remembers distantly that a significant part of being in a relationship is sharing or being emotionally vulnerable or whatever. She draws her knees up to her chest and lets out a resigned huff. “Just a bad dream. Nothing to worry about.”

Nate sits on the edge of the bed, taking one of her hands and tracing comforting lines across her palm. “If it worries you, then it worries me,” he counters. “Do you want to talk about it?” She thinks about it- Murphy grinning, the trees drenched in scarlet, their imitation eyes weeping blood- and decides it’s probably best to keep those visions away from the waking world. 

“No. But thanks,” Kira smiles, squeezing Nate’s hand gently. “I’m okay now, if you wanted to sleep more.” 

He raises his eyebrows at her. “And what will you do?”

Kira checks her watch, groaning internally to see that it’s not even 3:30. “Oh, you know. Wander around, build a pillow fort, learn French. It’ll be a very productive four or five hours.”

Nate laughs softly. “I might be able to assist you with some of those pursuits, if you’d like. Although,” he lifts his other hand to cup her cheek. “I might recommend that we postpone our linguistic studies and construction projects for a time when you are more well rested.” 

“Fair enough,” Kira sighs. “Would you… read to me, then?” Nate’s face brightens, and he moves to sit next to her on the bed, wrapping an arm around her and reaching for the book on the bedside table. Kira relaxes into the embrace, head resting on his shoulder as he examines the novel’s cover. 

“Really?” he asks dryly, gesturing at the cover while looking down to where she’s smirking into the crook of his neck. Nate shakes his head, fond but exasperated, and carefully opens the volume to the bookmarked page. “ ‘But I come from afar off,’ ” he begins, his low, melodic voice settling Kira’s mind and encompassing her like a soft blanket. “ ‘Very far off, and from a land whence no other has ever yet returned. There is neither sun nor moon in that land whence I come: all is but space and shadow.” She stifles a yawn; between Nate’s calming presence and the comfortable warmth of his arm around her, she’s worried to close her eyes lest she fall into a disturbed slumber once more. 

Nate pauses to press a gentle kiss to the top of her head. “Sleep, my love. I’ll keep the nightmares away,” he promises, and Kira lets her eyes flutter shut as she snuggles closer to him. He continues,“ ‘there is neither road nor pathway: no earth for the foot, no air for the wing; and nevertheless behold me here, for Love is stronger than Death and must conquer him in the end…” and Kira falls asleep to the sweet music of his voice.

**Author's Note:**

> come cry with me about hot vampires @strawberryrats on tumblr ;)


End file.
